Prodisconi

Italian politics is really funny. As you know, the Italian prime minister, Prodi, resigned a couple of days ago because the foreign policy strategy of his government was defeated in the Senate by people of his own majority voting against it. Now he has been asked to come back and form again the government with the same majority, since most probably they figured out that they would badly lose if we went for new elections. Prodi, however, decided to put some conditions, summarized in 12 points. Now: if there was no name under these 12 points, you could easily think that Berlusconi wrote them. They are pretty much right oriented, they make no mention whatsoever of DICO (which is the Italian-I-hope-the-catholic-cardinals-won't-kill-me law proposal for people who are living together without getting married), they say that we will keep our soldiers in Afghanistan, we will build the fast train in the north-west and all sort of other points against which some of the parties in his coalition built their programs. Obviously, all the parties in the majority signed this 12-points document, since they had started getting used to their nice comfty chairs in the Parliament. It is going to be extremely amusing to see what happens in a couple of months from now, how these morons will manage to cope with a program that is completely against what their electors voted them for.

As I always say: vota Antò Lo Puerc! Antò, un nome, una garanzia.

I'm back

Cari miei, this just to let you know that I am back in Frankfurt. The lamp made it across the ocean without getting destroyed. And my parents are coming for the weekend, so I'd better start cleaning now.

Italy has no government

BREAKING NEWS
The Prodi government lasted 10 months. Today the Senate voted a law against the majority, Prodi got pissed and resigned. So now we are without a government. There are various options:
-Prodi bis, meaning that he forms another government, reshuffling the guys and giving some candies to the ones who voted against so that hopefully they behave better this time
- new elections, with the only disadvantage that this time, after the economics law the Prodi made, Berlusconi wins easily.
- someone else goes to the government

Net, we are back to the usual way of government in Italy: wait 1 year and you have a different one.

signore e signori, THE LAMP!!!

Yesterday Patricia and her friend Andy took me to a desin furniture warehouse. Every quarter they have sales, and I was lucky to be in town during one of these days.
Result: I managed to find the lamp I was looking for for suuuuuucccchhhhh a long time. It is the FL/Y from Kartell, it is a big, round, transparent plastic bowl that looks like it comes directly from the seventies. I got it in red (like the one in front in the picture) and it will go above the kitchen table in the new house. And, on top, I paid it 104 dollars, which, with today's rate, are worth less than 80 euros, while even on e-bay I could find it only for 110 euros minimum. I will have to change the power cord otherwise I burn it, but that shouldn't be a problem. Now, I don't know exactly how I will manage to bring it back to Europe, but this is a minor organizational challenge.
YES! YES! YES!

nice

yesterday was a nice day. I got a 1 hour massage, that was goooooooooooooood. The I prepared some tiramisú for tonight. And in Italy they had a huge manifestation against an American army base in Vicenza and there were no bombs, no clash with police, only peaceful people. I am not particularly agreeing with what the people there want, but it was extremely nice to see that it did not degenerate into a usual mess, like a lot of times happens in Italy during rallies. Especially considering that last weel there was a big police raid against some idiots of the BR (Brigate Rosse, a bunch of post-marxist moron terrorists) and the manifestation could have become a good broadcasted stage to create chaos to ask for their liberation. Sometimes it looks as if we can still remember that we are supposed to be a civilized country.

breaking news

Miei cari, sometimes in the morning I go running in the gym in the hotel and watch tv in the meantime. I therefore had a chance to see what are the biggest news here in the US.
First of all, there is a tendency to blame anything that happens in Iraq or anywhere else in the world on Iran. Some days ago the biggest news was that secret services figured out that Iran is giving artillery to the insurgents in Iraq. Really?? Shit, I thought they got them from Mary Poppins... Let me tell you, this is actually scary, I hope it's not a strategy to make the public used to the idea that we should start a war on Iran as well, given the great success we are having in Iraq. Hopefully it's unlikely that they will try to make a mess in Iran as well: compared to 1 year ago, the news reports on the Iraq war are much less exultant and optimistic, they are openly talking about dead soldiers and the reactions of their families. Hope is our last resort.
Apart from this non-essential piece of information, TV channels are constantly broadcasting much more important news:
- who is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, i.e. who is going to get all the money she left? Contendants are: her lawyer, a photographer, a German "prince" (he bought the title some time ago) who is actually married to TzaTza Gabor, another guy who apparently had been sexually harrassed by her and her bodyguard. Latest news is that her sister says the Anna Nicole froze the semen of her 80-something year old billionaire husband and got pregnant with that. The mistery continues...
- why did Britney Spears shave her hair and is now bald?
- what is happening with Lindslay Lohan? You might wonder: who the hell is Lindsay Lohan? That's the same question I had, and so far haven't figured out a proper answer, apart from the fact that this girl is trying to be the American brunette version of Kate Moss, unfortunately missing her dressing sense and the toxic&bad&rock&rollllbaaaaaabeeee boyfriend.
This leaves me anxiously waiting for Paris Hilton to come back and detonate this crappy competition. What will she invent this time? She has already made the crappy porn movie, had all sort of crappy boyfriends, wore all sort of crappy clothes... As the Led Zeppellin used to say, ooooohhhhh it makes me wonder.

terror on the highway

Cari miei, it has been so cold here that I had a thick layer of ice formed on the roof of the car. The other day I was going on the highway and I heard this big layer kind of cracking. All of the sudden, I see this big piece of ice flying off my roof and nearly landing on the wind shield of a big truck right behind me. The truck driver avoided it by steering abruptly and nearly went into a car that was next to the truck. Basically, I nearly made a disaster on the highway. It took me 20 minutes to scrape the shitty ice off the roof and I had no gloves, but at least now I feel like a good girl.

ice ice baby

yesterday it started snowing here in Cincinnati. It didn't become a disaster (only 5 to 10cm), but today it has been raining all day. Result: my car is completely covered by a nice thick layer of ice. It took me 5 minutes to open the trunk, and when I eventually managed I nearly got killed by a piece of ice falling on my head. It is super wet and cold and my head hurts. Shit. If it doesn't turn too bad, I will hopefully manage to go to the Indian restaurant or to the sushi place and get some food. If not, long live the hotel pop-corns....

bleargh...

Today Heather and I decided to go shopping. After a couple of hours we decided to go eat, and we saw this nice Max & Erma place right close to the shops. I don't know if it was the burger or the fact that I got a phone call from my aunt which pissed me off enormously, but today I spent the whole afternoon and evening on Randy's sofa trying not to move because I felt like puking my guts out. We were watching some dvds and then the Grammy awards (the Dixie Chicks got shitloads of awards and Justin Timberlake is wearing the most hideous shitty white trainers I've ever seen) and I felt sick every time they showed food in a commrecial.
This is one of the days when I would need my mum with her boiled rice and cuddles.

the year of the pig!!

Cari miei, on Saturday night Patricia invited me to the Chinese New Year's event. And guess what year it is? It's the year of the PIG!!!!!!!! Well, actually it's more like the year of the boar, but we are close enough:-)

So basically we went to this place, Heather and I were pretty much overdressed - and imagine that during the day we were nearly buying some prom dresses, never seen such an abundance of shitty clothes - and we started eating like pigs. The food was really good, apart from some fish which I didn't try because I got scared by the smell and the last 2 things because I was too full. There were some dance shows, they were pretty nice. The music shows were also nice, even though sometimes a bit weird. And I got completely envious about the hair of Chinese (or descendants) women: straight, super black and thick. Wonderful. After a while we left and went to Jungle Jim's to get a ton of shrimps and cachaca to make caipirinha; it was kind of funny to see these 2 girls in high heels (me) and super cleavage dress (Heather) walking kind of drunkenly at night in the supermarket. But as usual we survived.

I am getting old

Today I had to take the plane to come to the US. The good news is that I managed to take it and now I am writing from Cincinnati.
The bad news is that I fear I am really getting old.
This time I managed to forget:
- the map of Cincinnati
- the little book where I wrote how to get to the places of the people I know (because usually I get lost)
- the book about Tennesse
- all the books about India that I wanted to read
- the cream for the face, as a result I bought this shitty stuff at the airport (and I nearly forgot it on the plane)
- once I open the luggage I will continue the list...
On top, I nearly lost first my boarding ticket and then my passport in the airport.
As my granddad used to say "thanks god that your mum made you head stuck to your neck, otherwise you would forget that one as well".
It's cold like shit here, but it's really sunny.
ciaoooo

from winter to Winter

miei cari, winter in Germany this year is kind of mild. Yesterday night I was driving back home when it started snowing. That was beautiful. I went to bed, under my nice warm cosy duvet, and I was waiting to wake up to see all Frankfurt in white. Result: I wake up and there is no snow whatsoever, everything melted, just a little shitty rain, enough to screw up your hair but nothing more. Not good.
So tomorrow I am flying to the US, today I was in a meeting and half of the people were stuck on the highway because there are 11 to 15cm of snow (depends who makes the calculation inches to cm). Nice! Well, perhaps I won't be able to wear my high heels (new year's resolution: when not in the plant, dress like a woman, for god's sake!), but at the end of the day that is what winter should be like. And I am also planning to see my friends, and also meet new ones (hopefully). Last time I was in Cincinnati was October, and I should go there more often, at the end of the day when you know people it is always nice to see them again. Yes, I bought all the Ritter Sport dunkle voll nuss they had at the supermarket:-)

outlet? Yeah, sure, but I won't buy anything...

Cari miei, yesterday Jasmina, Jack and I went to this outlet in Wertheim, Bayern. Since I am going to the US, the idea was to go, look at German people buying Tommie t-shirts with pity (50 euros????) and come back home without any serious damage to my bank account.
Obviously, it didn't really work that way.
First of all, there was the shop of Le Creuset, a super expensive French producer of kitchenware. I went inside, saw all these expensive and really beautiful pots, kept a bit of self control (buy it alllllllllll) until, right before going out, I saw this super cool dish to make the Tarte Tatin. This is a cake that I love. It's very simple, apples, sugar, lemon juice, dough, nothing else really. It's extremely good, but I tried to make it a couple of times and I destroyed it when I tried to turn it. Needless to say, I bought it. There goes the first money. Shit.
Then we went into this gloves shop and I saw this super cool gloves, very nice leather, very nice colors. Result: 2 pairs bought. One has holes on the knuckles and it's super pink. The other one is a pair of driving gloves, holes on the knuckles, fingers free, super red, so that this summer when I drive back to Italy I can show my middle finger to the Swiss policemen in a fashionable way. And away goes some more money. Double shit.
Then there was the outlet shop of Wolford, they sell stockings. Usually, every time I go to some big store, I always stay there and look at them, but usually they are so damn expensive that I've never bought anything (hello!! 50 euros for a pair of stockings??). Well, yesterday I bought 3 pairs for 15 euros each...
OK, I'm not claiming that I am broke, but still...
But now I have super pink gloves:-))

the magic world of football

Yesterday there was a football match, Catania vs. Palermo. The match was suspended because the supporters were throwing all sort of crap on the field, especially lacrimogeni, which are some sort of semi-bombs that make a lot of smoke when they blast (cannot find a decent translation on internet). The match starts again, then ends. At the end of the match, police was escorting the Palermo supporters to the train, when some Catania supporters, some of them underage, assaulted a police car. A policeman died.
The football championship has been suspended, not clear when it will start again. All politicians are making a mess to condemn what happened. Everyone is full of grief.
This is pure and utter bullshit.
Things like this have been happening nearly every weekend in the last years. The only difference is that noone, luckily, died before. The Italian police needs to escort supporters to the stadium every weekend, as if we were in Beirut during the civil war. Supporters devastate trains every weekend. The stadiums need to be full of police, because otherwise they would kill each other. There have been plenty of examples of recist banners in stadiums. Insulting - and I mean really insulting, Italian way, on every possible relative you have, especially if female - is considered normal. People manage to take all sort of semi-bombs inside stadiums. Some matches had to be suspended because supporters were throwing coins at the players, and if a coin is throw really fast and hits you on the head it hurts badly.
Net, this has been going on forever and only now, because this poor guy died, people realize that things need to change.
Now, let's see what will happen next. My prediction is that they will talktalktalktalktalktalk, next match stay silent for a couple of minutes, and then off we go, waiting for the next dead. If you looked at the page of the Gazzetta dello Sport, the most read Italian newspaper, yesterday night, right after it happened, they had the title about the dead policeman and right below the result and comment of the match. This morning they took it out, perhaps someone told them that they need to pretend that they give a shit about what happened outside the stadium.
The real question should be: what could we do, apart from pretending that we care and forget about it in 1 week or so? Some people are advocating that we should suspend the championship completely, at least for 1 year. I think this is not a good idea, these moron supporters like to devastate things, so it would mean that they would follow another sport and fuck that one up as well. We already have laws that should punish who commits crimes (and these are penal crimes, my dear). The point is, how to actually apply them properly. To be honest, I don't want to stay here and tell you Alba's universal truth on how to slove the problem, because I have no universal truth.
From world champions to world mutherfuckers. Great improvement.

getting ready

miei cari, after some stressful days tomorrow I will have the pleasure of working from home and also getting a new haircut (and a bit more blond, since it's been fading recently...). Also, I'm planning to go and get the visa for India, assuming that I find a place where to make pictures. And to celebrate the upcoming event, tonight I managed to convince Jaccko to go eat Indian. He nearly died on the appetizer because "it was too hot". I was fearing a collapse when he got his main dish but thankfully the waiter was benign enough not to put any chilli in it, so he actually ate it and enjoyed it. So tomorrow is more relaxing, then on Sunday I go to Spain, buy some underwear and hopefully some shoes (apart from working...), come back Tuesday and Thursday I fly to the US. Shopping baby!